Modern ink jet printers employ a variety of ink cartridges for dispensing ink in a variety of colors. Upon depletion of the ink from a cartridge, the spent cartridges may generally be easily removed and disposed of and a new ink cartridge inserted in its place. Alternatively and more economically, the depleted ink cartridges may be removed, refilled with ink and replaced into the printer.
Various schemes have been developed to refill a depleted ink jet printer cartridge. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,470 to Goldman, assigned to the assignee of the instant invention, a method and apparatus for refilling ink cartridges is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a kit including a device for clearing a hole in the ink cartridge to receive the new ink, and an ink injection bottle. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 086,620, filed on Jul. 1, 1993 and assigned to the assignee of the instant invention, discloses a method for refilling ink jet cartridges wherein the cartridge has an air port and an ink fill aperture and which have an expandable bladder and a bubble generator which act to equalize pressure within and without the cartridge so as to prevent leaking of ink from the cartridge. In accord with the disclosed method of the '620 application, the air port and ink fill aperture are respectively sealed and opened to receive a charge of ink therein. Once filled, the ink fill aperture of the cartridge is then sealed and the air port opened to equalize pressure within the cartridge.
Various seals are employed in ink cartridges to close the ink access ports during use and after refilling. Some cartridges utilize a rigid (e.g. metal) sphere within a compliant channel (such as the Hewlett Packard HP51640 and HP51650 cartridges), some utilize a compliant sphere within a rigid channel (such as the Hewlett Packard HP51604A and HP92261A cartridges), some utilize a compliant plug in a compliant channel (such as the Hewlett Packard HP51626A cartridge), and some utilize a rigid ball in a rigid channel with a retaining lip (such as that used with the Canon BJC600 printer). Moreover, some cartridges after a prior refilling operation utilize a (rigid or compliant) setscrew in a (compliant or rigid) channel. In all of these cases, when the ink supply is depleted from the cartridge, the plug can be removed from the channel, and the cartridge can be refilled, with the channel then being re-sealed. In the prior art it has, however, been difficult to remove the sealing element, without damaging the cartridge, and has been difficult to re-seal the cartridge, since there are no previously known kits and techniques for easily accomplishing the opening and precision re-sealing of the channel.
A disadvantage of using a cartridge having a setscrew plug is that the cartridge may not easily be reused, since the setscrew plug is difficult to remove without a specially adapted tool and is even more difficult to replace properly in the cartridge after refilling.
It is thus an object of this invention to provide a kit for opening, filling, and re-sealing a depleted cartridge employing a plug, so that the depleted cartridge could be refilled with ink and reused instead of discarded.
It is another object of the invention to provide a kit for opening and sealing a cartridge which would ensure proper placement of a seal in an ink access port of the cartridge and thus ensure against leakage of ink from the cartridge.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method for opening, refilling and resealing a cartridge upon depletion of ink therefrom, so that the cartridge may be recycled instead of discarded after a single use.